Due to scheduling problems among the Jesus Christ Superstar creative team, the Chicago run of the upcoming Broadway revival has been canceled. Chicago's Shubert Theatre was to have been the only stop for the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice's Jesus Christ Superstar before the production came to rest on Broadway in April 2000.

Disappointed Chicagoans need not feel completely left out in the Superstar cold. The Windy City will be the first stop for the tour expected to be born of the Broadway mounting.

With the Chicago production gone, Broadway will be the first to see the U.S. mounting of the Gale Edwards-directed revival. Announcements as to a theatre will be made shortly, according to a Boneau/Bryan-Brown spokesperson. Speculation on that subject has the show going into the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, home to Ragtime, which will close in January 2000. The original Superstar press releases named a Nederlander house for the revival's home.

Australian Edwards directs. Her past credits include the successful British tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, Whistle Down the Wind, the UK tour and Australian premiere of Aspects of Love and the Broadway-bound Peter Allen musical, The Boy From Oz. Anthony Van Laast joins her as choreographer.

Designing will be Peter J. Davidson (sets), Roger Kirk (costumes), Mark McCullough (lighting) and Richard Ryan (sound). Lloyd Webber will provide his own orchestrations. Superstar, the musicalized story of Jesus Christ from Palm Sunday through the crucifixion, made its world premiere on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Oct. 12, 1971. It ran there for 720 performances. The original London production ran for eight years and 3,358 performances, the fifth longest-running West End show. Songs from the piece include the U.S. chart hit "I Don't Know How to Love Him" and "Superstar."